Dominion was a cocoon-like angel with 6 pure-white wings gathered around himself. He spread out one of his wings as requested. It contained a bright light similar to Metatron, but the wing seemed to serve the role of a physical hand.
A small wooden box sat atop it.
“Rapha, bring us some glasses.”
“They have been washed.”
Micha had the 6 cans of beer she had returned with as well as the two glasses Rapha had carried over.
Once she was ready, her body was dragged inside the wooden box.
It was small enough to rest on someone’s palm, but she still fit inside. Either it had grown or she had shrunk.
The interior was a dark space cut off from the divine light that filled heaven.
Lilith was floating in that space with one of her eyes shut, but then she noticed Micha’s arrival. A plain wooden table and chairs appeared from the darkness between them. Micha set the glasses down on the table.
“Lilith, I got my hands on something nice, so how about a drink?”
“Is it wine?”
“Nope, it’s beer.”
“Made from wheat? No, thank you. I only drink wine.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wheat. C’mon, drink it.”
Micha filled both glasses.
Lilith was not insensitive enough to refuse after it had been poured, so she reluctantly picked up one of the glasses of a foaming yellow liquid. They clinked their glasses together.
“Ahhh, that’s the stuff.”
“Ew. It’s so bitter.”
Micha chugged her drink, but a blatant grimace appeared on Lilith’s beautiful face.
“This wheat drink has such a foul flavor.”
“Hey, stop dissing my favorite drink.”
Micha started on a second drink right away. She opened the pull tab and drank directly from the can instead of using the glass.
“Didn’t Avalon like beer?”
“Avalon was perfect as a man, but there was something wrong with his taste buds. …I really thought I was going to die when he fed me his experimental dishes which he claimed were highly nutritious.”
“Ha ha. Well, I can’t imagine the beer back then was very good.”
Micha laughed bitterly and decided to stop teasing Lilith. She pulled out a brandy she had brought with the beers and poured it into Lilith’s glass.
It was not wine, but it was still made from grapes. Lilith seemed pleased with that because she obediently drank it.
The two of them enjoyed their drinks for a while.
“…”
But just as Micha reached for a third one, something occurred to her and she stopped.
She decided against a third can of beer and instead just swished around what remained of her second one.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that Mutsuki-kun didn’t choose us.”
“The boy has no eye for women. He might be a reincarnation, but he is still only a child.”
“Heh heh.”
Micha’s expression brightened as they discussed the boy.
So did Lilith’s.
“I have not given up,” said Lilith.
“…”
“I can escape here at any time once the boy has a change of heart. And even if he does not, I can wait another thousand years and meet the new reincarnation. Avalon will be mine eventually.”
“Is that so?”
“You will not best me next time, Lucya.”
“…”
Micha chuckled at that familiar name.
She felt more comfortable with Michael now, but she had gone by that name a very long time ago.
“Well, I’m with you for another 1000 years.” She set the empty can down on the table. “We are friends, after all.”
“Hmph.”
Lilith set down her glass as well.
The can and glass bumped together, producing a terribly awkward sound.
It was 8:30 in the morning.
Mutsuki, Ange, Lucia, and Machina rushed up the hill as the bell rang. They walked through the school’s main gate for the first time in half a month.
“Pant, pant. I-I’m no good at running.”
“We’ve barely run at all. You’re pathetic.”
“Well, I’m not a wild boar like you are.”
“What did you say!?”
Lucia could pop in anywhere without warning, but he apparently had trouble with ordinary running. He was already out of breath and Ange’s breathing grew heavier as he provoked her.
Those two and Mutsuki were jogging toward school in a bit of a panic. They were very close to being late.
Machina alone walked calmly toward the gate in order to slip through one second before it shut.
“I-Ibekusa-san, I know this is kind of your ‘thing’, but could we maybe leave a little earlier starting tomorrow?”
“Hm? If you say so, Fujita-kun.”
She knew they would arrive just barely on time, but it was bad for his heart.
He had wanted to walk to school with her since they were living together now, but deferring to her schedule had been a mistake. He felt a cold sweat as he ran through the hallway and toward their classroom.
“Good morning, Fujita and Miss- no, I mean Ibekusa.”
“Good morning, Senpai.”
They happened across Ren along the way.
They only greeted each other, but it led to an uncomfortable silence. His relationship with Machina and Lucia had returned to normal, but things were still awkward with Ren.
He had ended up having sex with his first love and he had still not figured out where to go from there.
That awkwardness would probably continue for a while longer. In a way, that awkwardness was what made Shirohara Ren something special for him in a way that Ange and the others were not.
They said nothing more and went their separate ways since they were not in the same class.
Ange wrinkled her brow and gave her a threatening look as usual.
School was the same as always.
Once they arrived in their classroom…
“Hey! It’s Fujita-kun! And Ange-chan!”
“Satowa and Ibekusa too! Are you finally over that food poisoning!?”’
Saya, Sakae, and their other classmates were there to greet them.
When they had left school in mid-April, the class had been told they were being hospitalized for food poisoning.
“Are you okay, Mutsuki? Did you eat something bad at the cultural festival? I heard you went to the teahouse Kurikara was working at, so was it there?”
“Hold it! Let’s not make assumptions here!”
“Hey, I was only asking questions.”
“Everything we served there was coated in mayonnaise! And mayo is an incredible disinfectant, so he couldn’t have gotten food poisoning there.”
“Are you sure it was food poisoning, Mutsuki? And not – oh, I don’t know – really bad heartburn?”
“Ah ha ha.”
Saya and Sakae’s comedy routine seemed a lot more amusing when it had been a while.
That said, they had barely arrived on time, so they did not have time to enjoy this. Their homeroom teacher, Katsue-sensei, would arrive soon, so they quickly moved to their seats.
Machina sat next to Mutsuki, Lucia sat behind her, and Ange next to him.
The four of them were in their usual seats.
“We really are back, aren’t we?”
“We are.”
Saya and Sakae returned to their more distant seats, but they looked happy that those four desks were finally occupied again.
“Um.”
Sakae glanced over at Mutsuki.
During that half month, he had dreamed that Mutsuki turned into a girl.
“Everything really is back to normal now, huh?”
He spoke a little louder than necessary to shake off the awkwardness.
“…”
But Saya did not reply the way she usually did.
Puzzled, he looked over at her face.
“Oh, yeah, you’re right. Back to normal. But…”
She kept glancing over at Mutsuki too.
But she had completely forgotten what she had dreamed. She only remembered having a dream about sleeping with a wonderful person, but she had dreams like that all the time, so it had not stuck with her.
She was focused on something else.
“Something about those four seems off.”
“How so?”
“Well, I can’t really put my finger on it. Um.”
She could sense that something had changed in those four’s lives.